The drought in North Carolina ended just in time for the baseball season.

After seeing barely a drop of precipitation over the winter, high Class A Kinston was inundated last week and had all three games of its opening series against Winston-Salem postponed.

Apparently the K-Tribe’s front office went a little stir crazy after being cooped up all weekend, as they have promised to give away $5,000 to a fan in attendance if Tuesday’s home game is rained out (Monday is an off-day).

Kinston GM Shari Massengill issued a tongue-in-cheek release on Monday stating that play-by-play announcer Chris Hemeyer volunteered to take the five grand out of his annual salary if the heavens open again on Tuesday.

"She’s very generous," Hemeyer said, noting that they did check the weather report before issuing the guarantee (overcast skies, 20 percent chance of precipitation). "There is truth to the (promotion). Someone is going to win five thousand dollars if we don’t play tomorrow . . . I hope it’s not (my salary). I hope that’s just an empty threat."

The Indians’ Opening Day game was postponed after a city-wide power outage darkened Grainger Stadium with Kinston leading Winston-Salem, 3-0, in the bottom of the third inning. The Indians had the bases loaded when the power went out.

Front-office officials decided to try and brighten moods.

"You can’ help Mother Nature when half the city goes out with a power outage," Hemeyer said. "We were all just sitting around the office, pretty bummed out and dowin the dumps. We thought, ‘let’s do something that will put a positive, or more fun, spin on this situation.’ We thought that this might make it more fun. We’re putting our money our mouth is . . . or I guess my money."